


Coffee talks

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 18:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11766234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: “You are my favourite thing in this entire universe. Always will be.” Asked by pressuredrightnow via tumblr-------“I dreamt that you were gone… that you said that you couldn’t be here anymore….” Regina stopped, swallowing before chuckling breathlessly, pointing blindly at the coffee pot whose scent filled the air between them. “And here you are, drinking coffee.”





	Coffee talks

It began in the early light of a morning, between sweat-soaked sheets and rumpled dreams regarding a disappearing blonde and a tearful goodbye. The sunrays had nothing but started to soak the wood floor when Regina opened her eyes, lips parted as she tried to recognize her surroundings, eyelids heavy with sleep even if her heart felt about to jump out of her chest.

Swallowing, the former queen run a hand over her hair, letting it fall ever so slowly, mapping her face, her neck, until it fell limply on her lap where she stared at it. Her fingers where almost clawing the sheets and for a moment purple sparks seemed to come out of them, covering her nails in some sort of mist that diluted in the morning grey light.

It was still early and she could feel it on the way her body protested as she closed her eyes, trying to remember her dream, the one that had made her almost jump out of the bed. The word “gone” was the only thing she was able to decipher and as she swallowed she could feel a lump of cold fear settling on the back of her throat.

It had felt too real back at her dream; the empty house, the dust-covered floors in where nothing but her own footsteps echoed as she walked from room to room, fighting to find a clue that wasn’t there. That hadn’t been left behind. It had felt far too real looking at an empty house with the knowledge that the one there wasn’t going to return. Ever again.

She picked pen and paper faster than what her mind was trying to tell her; her dream had only been that, a dream. The greyness of the morning and the quietness of her own house seemed ominous however, and as she left a simple note to Henry for the boy to see she could feel the fear gnawing at her insides, whispering words and ideas to her that floated around her head and danced in front of her still sleep-addled eyes.

She needed to check on Emma. That much was clear. See that she was still okay, that she was in that apartment she had found after the divorce, a divorce that had been faster than the length of her marriage, if not by much. And as she dressed herself with a little aid of magic she pictured once again the night where the blonde had entered in her house, ring tightly clasped between her hands, a whispered “sorry” breaking through her lips and nothing but sobs coming out of her.

That night they hadn’t done a thing, not even a kiss even though the air had been filled with an almost, a very close almost. Regina had been adamant to wait, to understand. Emma hadn’t fought her on this, perhaps content of finally being able to see what Regina had known for a long, long time. The very same day of her divorce, however, once the pirate left, Emma had kissed her, whispering to her something very different from the broken “sorry” she had been saying less than a month ago.

After that, however, there was the fear, the stress, the careful disposition of words that sometimes cut like glass as feather-like they tried to say them. The feeling of loss hadn’t always been Regina’s but through the next month she became accustomed to it, to the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop in a way she had rarely experienced before.

Now, however, as she picked up her car keys before shaking her head and using her magic, the sense just felt stronger, more acute.

She was gone before she could form any other thought, afraid and worried.

* * *

 

The coffee was still too hot and Emma yelped just in sync with the knocks at her door, her brow furrowing at the sound as she hissed, quickly picking her spoon and pressing its surface against her burnt lips. Walking closer to the door, barefoot and with sleep-marks covering half of her face, her furrow turned into a small smile at the sight of Regina; halted in mid-movement, one hand still hovering over the door.

The brunette’s eyes, whoever, hold a cloud that obscured the woman’s eye color and Emma could feel her furrow returning as she crossed her arms, her mind going into overdrive, listing the many reasons why Regina could be standing there, in front of her, looking about to crumble.

What came out of the former queen’s mouth, however, wasn’t something she could have predicted.

“You are here.”

It was a whispered discovery, one that didn’t seem to bring her anymore joy than it did of distress and Emma nodded slowly, pointing at her kitchen that could be seen from the main door.

“I was having some breakfast… early shift, remember? I told dad that he could sleep in today. Want something? I still have some coffee.”

Regina blinked at her words, still eyeing her as if fearing that Emma would just turn into dust at any given moment.

“Regina?”

“I dreamt that you were gone.”

It was a burst of words, an incomprehensible string Emma deciphered just as quickly as some invisible stress disappeared from Regina’s back, making her usual perfect poise waver and disappear as the older woman rested her right hand at the doorjamb, the black jumper she wore a striking contrast with the paleness that suddenly tinted her skin.

“I dreamt you were gone… that you said that you couldn’t be here anymore….” Regina stopped, swallowing before chuckling breathlessly, pointing blindly at the coffee pot whose scent filled the air between them. “And here you are, drinking coffee.”

Emma swallowed and nodded, feeling the muscles at her face twitch while staring at Regina’s, at the way the skin around the woman’s eyes seemed darker than usual, still trapped in some vision she apparently wasn’t able to shake. Not entirely.

It had been a running fear, they both knew that back when she had finally taken the decision that she needed the divorce. Darkness had been defeated. At least for a long run and the unspoken question was in the way Snow gave her coffee every time she went to the apartment, slowly recomposing the shambles that had turned out to be her life. It was in the way David did shift after shift only to be next to her, never pressing but always there. It was in the way Henry was always eyeing the book whenever she was nearer, waiting for the compulsion to write to hit him, a decision being made. It was, as well, on Regina’s looks and caresses on the back of her hand, never asking for something more even after Emma had admitted how wrong she had been; thinking she could hide something that had been far stronger than her ever since she had touched the former queen’s forearm, opening a portal when magic had just been an idea that still didn’t look real enough.

Did she want to leave? She had had the same fear even though she had never voiced it and as she looked at Regina, shadows of dreams trying to get free from the woman’s pupils, she realized that she ought to have actually spoken about it.

“I still think that chocolate is better.” She said with a soft smile crossing her lips. The next words came just as easily as the previous ones as she rose both of her hands, carefully touching Regina’s cheeks in an all too corny gesture neither of them were used to. She was, perhaps, her parent’s daughter after all. “You are my favorite thing in this entire universe. Always will be. I wasn’t really planning on leaving.”

Regina stared at her for a second before chuckling, realizing what she wanted to do. “And Henry?”

Emma nodded, still trying to remain as serious as possible as she felt Regina’s hands climbing up her upper arms. “He as well.”

It was too corny, a joke about her own parents overly shared famous lines. The grandiloquent sentence, however, did its work and Regina took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again, magic crackling between the two of them.

“Try those lines again and I will…”

“End me? I think where that story goes…”

Regina interlaced her fingers with Emma’s, lowering their hands as she did so. The blonde followed the movement with her eyes before raising them again, finding the former queen’s as she smiled cheekily. Something that was quickly replied with a smirk.

“Care to tell me, Miss Swan? And don’t spare me any detail.”


End file.
